


Judge, Jury and…

by Melethril



Series: AU - Tony Stark, Consultant [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Author is part of the Tony Stark Defense Squad, Bucky Barnes Gets a Hug, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Good Loki AU, If it was, James "Bucky" Barnes deserves a break, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Not Steve Friendly, Not Wanda Friendly, Rhodey is the best, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony is a consultant
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-13 02:51:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18023369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melethril/pseuds/Melethril
Summary: While Tony would never want to go back to being the callous, arrogant man he used to be, he admits that life was easier when he was able to convince himself that he did not care.





	1. Better Acronym Rejected Furiously (BARF)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ali_aliska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ali_aliska/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Winter's End](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11307321) by [ali_aliska](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ali_aliska/pseuds/ali_aliska). 



> New installment of the AU-consultant series...
> 
> The gun information in this chapter is from wikipedia and quora.

The dwarves sent their apologies to SHIELD, the WSC and the UN ambassdors on the same day the princes of Asgard arrived. Tony also received a personal, rather heartfelt apology letter, in which Master Elrik expressed his genuine regret for ‘wasting his valuable time’ and that Masters Karruk and Nïla were looking forward to meeting him as soon as the opportunity arose.

It was a bit of a bummer, if Tony was honest. He had looked forward to the meeting, but he could hardly claim to be surprised given that the Asgardian princes had returned to their realm rather abruptly during the intermission of _Cats_. Apparently, in view of Thanos’ intention to subjugate the Nine Realms, the realms of Jotunheim, Asgard, Alfheim, Nidavellir, Vanaheim and Nilflheim had managed to organize a meeting with the fire demons/dragons of Muspelheim. Even the Dark Elves seemed unwilling to fall under Thanos’ cruel reign hinting that they wanted to be a part of the treaty. This whole thing had come to such a surprise to the two princes that they had taken their leave as soon as the Warrior Three arrived to bring the news.

_As Loki rose from his seat, previously clad in a casual suit, which he wore far more naturally than his brother, now wore two-layered clothes with a dark-blue garment and a green cloak with golden rims._

_“No armor?” asked Tony as he looked between Thor, who wore his full heir-of-Asgard outfit that included a heavy, golden armor, and Loki, who looked almost vulnerable in comparison. The smile Loki gave him was both kind and a reminder that it just seemed like Thor was better protected._

_“If I appear in armor, this peace will be very short-lived. Hvitvâr has not left its fiery realm in ten thousand years. If we seem as if we did not trust their word, the Mad Titan will be the very last of our worries.”_

_“Good luck, I guess,” said Tony._

_“You should come with us. Represent Midgard,” suggested Thor, but Loki shook his head regrettably._

_“Midgard has not yet earned its place in this particular council, brother, you know that, but I agree. Anthony would be a welcome addition to the round. The Dwarves would certainly be in favor of that suggestion.”_

Somehow, Tony managed to cover up a bashful smile with an overly confident, casual remark that made Thor laugh out loud.

It had been nice, to feel like he earned their respect. It had felt nice to be respectfully addressed by Master Elrik. However, good things never lasted in Tony World unless you could buy it (which frankly as a lot, and he should not be complaining about things that could not be helped. ‘Stark Men are made of iron’ and all that).

 _‘Vacation’s over,’_ he told himself. _‘Back to work.’_

He stepped into the BARF room. What had basically become the treatment facility of one Winter Soldier was just across town of SHIELD and Avengers headquarters. Nick had predictably been a bit cautious to let these two facilities be within infiltration distance of HYDRA’s most successful assassin, especially as long as the triggers were intact. That decision had not gone over well with the leader of the Avengers and Barnes’ best friend Steve Rogers and the discussion probably would have ended rather unpleasantly if the Black Widow had not been able to convince Steve that this was for the best. Apart from Sam Wilson, the Falcon and soon-to-be-latest addition of the Avengers Initiative, who had helped retrieving Bucky Barnes, Rushman-er-Romanoff had the most sway over the stubborn man that was Steve Rogers. Tony admired the man’s absolute coniviction that he was always right, though he had to admit that blind hero worship (likely obtained when he had been a impressionable, young idiot hoping to gain his father’s approval) had long given way to the resignation that their personalities simply did not mesh well and that he had to abandon an old pipe dream that Captain America would ever become Tony Stark’s friend. With a heavy heart, he had plucked that dream from his mind months ago and put it into the sealed box that carried other impossibilities such as…

 

_‘Dad tells you that he is proud of you’_

_‘same as above, but replace ‘is proud’ with ‘loves’’_

_‘same as above, but replace ‘Dad tells you that’ with ‘Mom tells you that Dad told her that he’”_

_‘Yinsen’s spirit is watching and he is proud of who you are now’_ (he did not even believe in all that crap, but then, this was the box of impossible dreams)

_‘Good deeds in the future will somehow balance out the past’_

“Dr. Stark?” A voice brought him back from his musings. He blinked until he recognized Moira Bennet, a graduate student double-majoring in informatics and psychology. She was one of Dr. Clarice Turner’s most promising students and, knowing Clarice since his early years at MIT, he had immediately accepted her proposal to have Moira study the BARF technology as part of her thesis.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Bennet, I did not catch that.”

He would not make a _Pride and Prejudice_ reference. He would not make a _Pride and Prejudice_ reference. He would not make a _Pride and Prejudice_ reference. He would not make a _Pride…_

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes, why I am I here? Simon told me you were having trouble yesterday, but my solution should have fixed the machine. Today you let me know that it stopped working. Care to tell me what you found?”

She told him in detail what their problem was while the entire team of psychiatrists, engineers and software specialists gathered around them; a part of the mandatory SHIELD security detail was also within reach. While listening, Tony wondered if Steve had the slightest idea just how much money they were spending on helping Barnes heal; of course, Tony was in total favor of this, and he hoped that this facility would be open to more than just the Winter Soldier once the triggers were removed, but he _knew_ the numbers. Did Steve know? Did he even care?

“Damn,” he hissed once she unwittingly told him what the problem was; or rather, the schematics she waved at him did. “Good news: I can fix it. Bad news: I didn’t bring the Iron Man suit.”

“What do you need it for?”

“Heavy lifting. You used titanium fibre for the inner casing, didn’t you? It worked well for the initial prototype, but this baby here is 3.245 times heavier, so the fibre cannot uphold the strain for a prolonged period of time. We need to repair it. It’s a quick fix and will keep you in operation. I will put together a sturdier version of it as soon as possible and then it’s a permanent fix.”

Michael Simmons, the chief engineer, stared at the schematics, “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t take this into account.”

“Neither did I, so don’t be too hard on yourself. I did not expect that the device would have to be modified that much before it was useful for anyone but myself. Alright, let me go across town, fetch the suit and I’ll be back before you know it.”

He did not have the time for this, damn it, but the people here needed to continue their work. He would simply postpone his armor repair to 11 PM, which would give him the necessary time to properly prepare for the meeting with the Board and then…

“Do you need a hand?” a familiar voice sounded from across the room and Tony’s pulse spiked.

“Jesus, Frostbite, be careful with an old man’s heart and announce your arrival!” he exclaimed, theatrically grabbing his chest, as he turned to take a look at the only patient of the facility.

Barnes looked better than the last time he had seen him. It was obvious that all the therapy helped him heal. Tony was privy to the files, both the ones that made the Winter Soldier courtesy of HYDRA and the ones obtained by the present team of experts, among other one of the world’s leading psychiatrists, Dr. Jelena Milenković.

Under torture, Barnes’ mind partially shattered and created a split personality, whom they had named ‘Winter Soldier’ or ‘Soldat.’ He called himself ‘the Asset’. The videos with the Winter Soldier were quite striking, really. He was not violent in the broadest sense; he was just… very silent. He had spoken no more than three times in almost fifteen months of daily therapy, and he exclusively spoke Russian. Thankfully, Dr. Milenković was fluent, but it did not help because the man did not speak beyond asking for his next mission. Once, she had tried to present a ‘mission’, in which he was supposed to tell her of his purpose and what he knew of James Barnes. All she received in return was a sneer and half a sentence.

_“I am.”_

Then he had proceeded to localize the psychiatrist’s hometown within a twenty-mile radius only thanks to her accent before Barnes took over again, only vaguely remembering what happened.

It was a problem because it looked like the only thing of Barnes that remained after activation of the triggers was that particular personality. That being said, the third time they had managed to lure out that elusive Winter Soldier, they attempted to use the triggers.

Long story short, even Tony had whistled at the bill that followed from renovating that particular room. Dr. Liam Kelly, the psychiatrist in attendance that day, had to be removed from the team after that. Not because he had committed any sort of misconduct, but because Barnes warned that he could not guarantee the man’s safety; apparently the Winter Soldier hated HYDRA, and attempting to use the triggers was practically a confession akin to shouting ‘hail HYDRA’ in the Winter Soldier’s opinion.

With all this in mind, the team had hit a roadblock in Barnes’ recovery around two months ago with no inidication for improvement, but Tony could not help them with this, even if he had the time to take care of it. He could deal with many problems regarding the brain (he was on top of all current scientific literature and found out an impressive amount during the creation of BARF), but when it came to split personalities, he was simply stumped for an answer, but then so were all the experts in the field, and he did not need to feel too bad about that. It was also not his priority if he was honest; he simply made sure that the BARF technology was always functional. His personal number of visits did not exceed the number twenty, almost exclusively concerned the machine itself without any personal interaction with Barnes. During the five visits, in which he had actually spoken to the man, Steve had been there as a silent shadow, practically censuring Tony’s every attempt at lighthearted conversation. His admittedly inconsiderate nickname, for example, would not have gone over well.

“That would be a highly inefficient way to eliminate you,” Barnes snarked back with the strangest facial expression: as if he wanted to smile but had forgotten how.

Tony, who had practically invented the art of inappropriate humor (though not really, given that Barnes and even his split personality were technically older than Tony), did not let the remark faze him and merely replied, “On the contrary. Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death for men over fifty-five in the United States, so you could probably slip it in there.” Tony grinned.

“You’re not fifty-five,” was all the other man said in return. He was not quite as tall as Steve, but he was broader than his best friend. He also looked like he was in his late twenties and Tony suddenly felt old.

“Nope, but I will be, so you’ll have to let me live for a couple of years. Anyway, from what my data tells me, you can easily lift approximately 1100 lb. Does that sound about right? You see, I don’t want to take apart the whole system unless I have to, but I forgot to bring the Iron Man suit, and since your bestie is not here, I was wondering if you could help me out.”

“Of course.”

“Great. Gather around, children,” Tony told the engineers. “It’s storytime.”

He spoke fast as always, explaining them, and in turn Barnes, what he needed to do, why he needed to do it, and let the rest of the room know that the machine would not be ready before afternoon, so that everybody not involved in the reparation could do other tasks.

Ten minutes later, he had the casing in his hand and handed it over to Michael.

“Go ahead. I’ll doublecheck to make sure, but you don’t need me for this.”

As little ducklings liked to do, Michael’s team followed him one after another, and Tony was left alone with Barnes. Security was within reach, but they had actual instructions not to come any closer so that the Winter Soldier never identified them as a potential threat.

“So,” began Tony, tapping his arc reactor rhythmically. “Any hobbies you rediscovered in the last couple of months? Any hobbies you want to pick up? Just let me know, I can provide almost anything, though I must draw a line at collecting oldtimers, bikes and any other ‘fast-driving suicide machines’. Pepper strictly forbids me to start another collection, very much to Happy’s dismay.” It had taken them a couple of months to find some sort of routine after their breakup, even though it had been amicable. These days, his initially forced tolerance of the relationship that had formed between his driver/bodyguard and his… Pepper had shifted into true acceptance, even support. He felt like those two splitting up would devastate him almost more than them.

“Stark,” Barnes began, looking pained. “You know I was given a mission to kill your parents, don’t you? It was only because of their accident that it was scraped. I would have done it, too.”

And there went the lightheartedness. Of course, he knew. If his father’s drinking had not killed his mother that night, the Winter Soldier would have. HYDRA had a standing, very strict ‘no witnesses’ order. It was a painful thought, and Tony narrowly avoided drinking himself numb over it. It had taken a while to come to terms with the implication that HYDRA wanted his parents dead and that the man he was helping would have been the one to do it, but then...

“You did not have a choice in the matter.”

“There is always a choice,” Barnes hissed.

“Barnes, you were tortured to the point where you forgot who you were. You were unmade by a group of monsters. You were made into a weapon and fought them every step of the way, to the point they had to wipe your mind daily when you were out of cryo. Nobody can withstand that kind of torture, survive and not break.” This was all fact. There was not a single person that could dispute this.

“You don’t know what I’ve done,” the man whispered, his eyes as haunted as Tony had ever seen them. His pain resonated with Tony’s own who could practically feel the desert sand on his face, blood in his mouth, and pain in his chest.

“I’ve read all of your files, seen all your tapes and I know they used that material to further torture you,” Tony countered calmly. “I know you were forced to do these awful things, and I know what I will say next will not assuage your guilt, but you are not to blame, Barnes. Nobody in their right mind would blame you. Compared to me, you are an innocent man.”

“You were never a weapon of the enemy.” There was so much self-loathing in that man’s voice, it was painful to hear. It was also a very familiar sound and he could not help the bitterness that threatened to engulf him.

“No, I just made them.”

“That is not the same.”

“No?” Tony smiled grimly. “Charlie, could you hand me your gun, please?”

Agent Brown – and no, his first name was not Charlie – and head of security in this facility twitched, “Mr. Stark, I don’t think this is wise…”

“Look, guys, I’m not saying your task isn’t important here, but if you seriously think you could stop the Winter Soldier if he wanted to harm anyone in this facility or if he wanted _out_ , I have to disappoint you. I would just like to make a point.”

Agent Brown handed over his gun reluctantly and stayed close while Tony took it apart with ease, not even looking at it.

“Glock 17 Gen 4. Preferred by law enforcement. The basic grip size of the fourth-generation Glock pistols is slightly smaller compared to the previous design. A punch is provided to remove the standard trigger housing pin and replace it with the longer cross pin needed to mount the medium or large backstrap that will increase the trigger distance by 2 mm (0.079 in) or 4 mm (0.16 in). Just like Glock 18, 19, 26 and 24, it’s a standard double stack 9mm handgun. This particular piece is regularly used and well cleaned. Its aim is shifted to the right by approximately 0.0034%, which Charlies probably learned to balance out. I could fix it,“ he continued as he put the handgun back together. Barnes watched his every move, but Tony could not read his expression. “But I won’t because Agent Brown is very much attached to it and I don’t want to throw off his aim.” He handed the gun over to Agent Brown who immediately reassumed his position more than twenty feet away, which allowed Tony to continue lowly so the others could not hear him. “I designed my first missile when I was twelve. I could name you every detail of it. Stark Industries sold that missile 3249 times. The blast range is 42 metres. That’s just one missile. I designed dozens, most of which sold better than that one. You do the math. You may be this world’s most dangerous assassin, Sergeant Barners, but you will never compete with the Merchant of Death. Who the hell am _I_ to judge you? They had to torture you into becoming a nightmare. I had to be tortured to stop being one.”

Barnes stared, but he recovered his wits quickly and replied roughly, “I recognize monsters when I see them, Stark. Monsters are either devoid of feelings or they enjoy what they’re doing. You couldn’t be further away from being a monster if you tried.”

“And, by your own definition, neither could you.”

For a moment, Barnes recoiled, utterly surprised that Tony had steered him right where he wanted him. Then he laughed out loud, before he nodded with an actual smile. It rejuvenated his face handsomely.


	2. Winter is Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stark did not know the meaning of quiet, but apparently, the Winter Soldier decided that this dynamic man was very soothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your support and your comments. I hope to reply to them soon!

Stark’s presence calmed the Winter Soldier.

That in itself was a startling realization to make. After all, Stark did not do _quiet_. There was constant activity to the man. If he did not move about, his hands gestured, if his hands rested, he talked, if he did not speak, there was an expression in his eyes that spoke of such intense concentration it was frightening. Usually though, it seemed like he was doing all of the above simultaneously: he moved, talked, casually tapped on his phone or grabbed a pen to twirl it around or randomly grabbed items that he examined while verbally making an entirely different point, repairing the item in the meantime. No, Stark did not know the meaning of being quiet.

Nevertheless, the Winter Soldier was strangely soothed by the man’s antics. James Buchanan Barnes, commonly referred to as Bucky, did not quite understand why, because he still had trouble completely understanding this part of himself – did not _want_ to understand this forced part of himself – but he knew quite intimately what the Winter Soldier _felt_. In fact, he was tightlipped just how much he knew about the Winter Soldier if he was honest.

It had taken him weeks, months even until he finally accepted that, like so many branches of medicine, psychiatric care had undergone fundamental changes since the 30s and 40s and that there was no danger of being put into another chair to ‘treat’ the Winter Soldier. At first, he had thought that was simply because of his own personal history, but careful interrogation of his doctors made him realize that this was not the case. Nevertheless, despite it all, he was still afraid that if he told them just how ever-present the Winter Soldier was in his mind, they would lock him away forever and, not only was he unbelievably afraid of that happening, he also feared that being locked away would drive the Winter Soldier insane, and therefore also him. Interestingly, despite feeling caged, that lethal part of him was very calm here in this facility. The sterile walls tended to remind him of high-tech HYDRA bases and their laboratories, and the Winter Soldier utterly despised HYDRA; moreso than even Bucky who had every reason to hate them (and he did), but his feelings did not hold a candle to the Winter Soldier’s fury, but then Bucky had been out of it for the better part of these past seventy years. Whenever it was too much, he had given up control and given it to this very dark part of himself. Before Stevie found him again, all the Winter Soldier had known was torture, forced obedience and unspeakable missions. As much as Bucky was grateful for his other part’s existence, he also feared and sometimes even hated him. At first, he had thought that the Winter Soldier was nothing but a monster and it had come to a surprise that, if left to his own devices, the Winter Soldier, though highly capable and lethal, did not actually enjoy violence. He just wanted to be left alone. And so Bucky lied, claimed to know less about the Winter Soldier’s motivations than he actually did (though he still did not know much and he was not sure if he wanted to know). Sometimes, he felt like Dr. Milenković was onto him, or at least vaguely suspected it, but so far he had been able to throw her off his scent, sometimes with the help of the Winter Soldier, but mostly just him. He did not lie about the triggers, though since they were his biggest problem. As long as they existed, the entity that made up Bucky and the Winter Soldier was a true threat; he was genuinely terrified of them, but the Winter Soldier loathed them with every fibre of his being.

Unfortunately, they had no idea how to remove them, because Bucky just shut down as soon as the last word was spoken and the Winter Soldier never told him what happened after.

The Winter Soldier told him very little; he was always there, but he did not speak much. Instead, he _felt_. He was this simmering anger and icy, ruthless determination wrapped all in one, occasionally making feel Bucky like he wanted crawl out of his own skin. He could see the parallels between him and the Hulk, only that the Hulk was by far stronger yet less deadly. The Winter Soldier was an assassin. In comparison, the Hulk was a gentle giant with only the potential to break the Earth.

Bizarrely, Stark seemed to have found a rapport with both, without being aware of it.

Stark and Bucky were currently eating lunch in the cafeteria (security detail always within reach, and Stark was right to state that they were there for show rather than actually useful), and the man rambled about ‘Bruce’ who was this ‘crazy smart, brilliant physicist’ who ‘nails every known and yet to be discovered life science field known to mankind’ and his ‘Jolly Green Bean Alter Ego’ who was like a ‘gigantic, cuddly, awesome teddybear with anger management issues, while his fingers flew across the screen of his phone. And the Winter Soldier was utterly quiet as he listened to every word, just as attentive as when he/they had watched the man take apart a Glock and putting it back together in less than ten seconds while simultaneously running a diagnostic so precise even they could not have predicted it without using the gun first.

It was a blessing, this quiet.

“Do you think it’s a serum thing? The Winter Soldier, the Hulk, the Abomination… Makes you wonder if Captain America is just a splintered personality that is simply more intertwined with Steve than the Hulk is with Bruce or the Winter Soldier with you.”

How on Earth had they ended up here? Talking to Stark was like a rollercoaster, the man could talk circles around you without even trying.

“Perhaps Stevie is just that much better.” He said it without bitterness, without any judgment. He loved the punk and could not begrudge that the treatment had worked so well on him. Bucky had been involuntarily injected with that infernal serum, Stevie had volunteered. Perhaps the serum felt the host’s and attending physician’s intent and acted accordingly.

Tony frowned at him, “Yeah, no. Emil Blonsky is what happens when the wrong person with the wrong motivation takes the serum, but you? Steve thinks you are the best thing since sliced bread. Seriously, the man won’t shut up about you. Dad probably mentioned the ‘I’ll jump on a granade because that’s a totally rational thing to do’ idiot only 33.4% more than you, so no, I don’t believe that.” Bucky remembered Howard Stark, though only to an extent, too much had happened in the meantime, but he was careful not to ask any questions. Thankfully, Stark continued, “Same with Bruce. He’s angry and,” his expression darkened, “nobody can blame him for being angry, and sure, anger is a part of the Hulk’s nature, but Bruce is a very gentle soul, much kinder than your average person.” He looked so fond of the man. “He hates conflict and deserves to be bedded in thick, soft blankets and silk. I’m still thinking of buying a litter of kittens for the Hulk, but everybody else seems to think that’s a bad idea. Do you think the Winter Soldier would like to have a kitten or a puppy?”

Now officially at loss, all he could say, was, “What are you doing with that phone?”

Stark froze, and put the phone aside, “Sorry, force of habit. Just some proposals to look through, some designs to approve, three dozen applications to skim through because I’m looking for a head engineer for our brandnew prosthetics division, some updates for War Machine’s and my own suit, and a few BARF adjustments I want to present to your therapists. Talking to you really helped.”

His mind reeling from all this information, Bucky just blurted the first thing that came to mind, “You did about 95% of the talking.”

Stark’s eyes widened, then briefly paused before he shrugged, mumbling, “94.76% if you please, but good guess.”

“I don’t guess,” the apparently-once-upon-a-time-eloquent Army sergeant replied out of reflex. It was true. He tended observe his environment so quickly, he usually did not fully realize all the information he had gathered until after he mentioned it in a report.

Stark’s eyes narrowed and he leaned forward, “How many steps does it take to get from the BARF room to get here?”

“212-245, depending on where in the room you stand. It took us 243 steps, but it would have taken us 214 if you hadn’t taken that short detour to talk to that kid who was desperately trying to find a math error in a stack of calculations.”

“Huh,” Stark exclaimed thoughtfully. “Always had a photographic memory or is this a recent addition?”

“Could always remember things easily. Was a sniper long before they grabbed me, Stark, my math is rarely off.”

For some reason, that made Stark smile sadly before nodding with a whispered ‘yeah, it probably isn’t.’

“Can’t impress you too much, given what your brain can do,” Bucky continued, vaguely gesturing at the phone.

To his surprise, Stark shook his head, “I’m used to being the smartest person in the room, Sergeant Barnes.” he shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t mean I’m the best at everything. My favorite example is Colonel James Rhodes. Please call him Rhodey-bear when you meet him. He’s freakin’ smart. Not genius level, but wow, the man knows his way around a fighter jet, mechanical engineering and so many other fields like… interpersonal interaction. People think that, because we make it look easy, anyone could step into one of my suits and fly it, but the Iron Man suit controls are based on a super computer. The War Machine is designed it to work like a fighter jet. I can fly a plane, but I could never pilot his suit the way my platypus can. What I’m trying to say here is that, no matter how smart you are, you’ll always find someone smarter, more cunning or more skilled than you are, perhaps in general or in a specific field, and instead of feeling threatened, you _embrace_ it. You learn from them and you improve. Curiosity is the key to brilliance. And now satisfy my curiosity and tell me about how you are. You feeling alright here? Has everybody been treating you fairly? Seriously, do you want a puppy? The Winter Soldier seems like a dog person to me from what little I’ve seen.”

Bucky could not help the amused smile that graced his lips after that. The Winter Soldier echoed his amusement; he had apparently decided that Stark’s voice was perfect to tune out the cruelty of world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title is a GoT reference. What could better describe Tony Stark&Barnes interactions than the winter-related Words of the Stark family?

**Author's Note:**

> Series “AU - Tony Stark, Consultant”
> 
> Alternative Universe:
> 
> This entire story is built on one premise: How ‘narcissist’ Tony Stark immediately jumped on the opporunity to become a mere consultant of the Avengers Initiative.
> 
> Tony Stark never had his ‘consultant’ status removed. AU after IM2. The Avengers were formed without Tony who agreed 
> 
> The Other led the Chitauri Attack on a mission to gather the Infinity Stones; Thor comes to Earth, the Avengers assemble:  
> \- Steve Rogers (Captain America)  
> \- Natasha Romanova (Black Widow)  
> \- Bruce Banner (Hulk)  
> \- Thor (Thor) and the Warrior Three  
> \- Clint Barton (Hawkeye)  
> Tony was some sort of last line of defense (kept the helicarrier in the air)
> 
> This is a Good!Loki AU: Loki was not manipulated by Odin; he knows he’s adopted; he knows he’s Jotun – Thor was always protective of his brother because of it; Loki is ambassador of Alfheim, Vanaheim and the contact to Jotunheim  
> Thor was not the same warmonger he was in the movies. He was arrogant and could be provoked into fights too easily, but not nearly on MCU levels. He was banished to Earth for provoking the elves of Alfheim (Loki was in Vanaheim at the time); he meets Jane Foster, sees reason (transformation) and becomes a contact to Earth; starts helping out
> 
> SHIELD is not HYDRA.
> 
> The Winter Soldier did not kill Tony’s family.
> 
> Sokovia happened differently. There was no Ultron, but they raided that HYDRA base.  
> Wanda and Pietro were there, voluntarily part of HYDRA. When the base was attacked, they pretend to be prisoners and Steve immediately welcomed them. They intended to back-stab the Avengers, but first Pietro then Wanda have a change of heart.
> 
> Now, Thanos threatens the nine realms and they need to unite; Nidavellir agreed to negotiate.


End file.
